An Arnold man with deep ties to the Department of Defense entered a guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to partake in dogfighting, bringing a grim practice into the light. Frederick Douglass Moorefield, Jr., 63, once an influential Deputy Chief Information Officer for Command, Control, and Communications at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, admitted to his role in a longstanding operation of animal cruelty and illegal gambling, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.

According to the guilty plea, Moorefield’s involvement in dogfighting was unearthed after an autopsy of two deceased dogs linked them to him, prompting federal agents to investigate. Over two decades, Moorefield operated "Geehad Kennels" from his Arnold home, breeding, and training dogs specifically for ruthless combat, as detailed by the District of Maryland's U.S. Attorney's Office.

The data collected from Moorefield’s communications contained detailed plans about dogfighting matches and betting. The messages also revealed how dogfighting operations worked, including their terms, tools, and efforts to find a supposed informant among them. When the dogfighting match ended, if a dog didn’t win and survive, Moorefield would kill it himself. He used a jumper-cable device, which he plugged into a wall socket to electrocute the dogs that no longer served his purpose.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron praised the FBI, USDA Office of the Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Marshals Service, Anne Arundel County Police, Anne Arundel County Animal Control, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia for their help in the investigation. He also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander Levin and Darryl Tarver for handling the case. Moorefield's sentencing is set for December 2, and he may face up to five years in prison.